Excellence Award: First-generation Student Success and related

Supporting the Profession
Award Type: excellence

This award seeks to highlight innovative initiatives that relate to the programs, policies, procedures, best practices, or services supporting first-generation undergraduate or graduate students. Successful submissions will showcase broad-based institutional support, highlight innovative collaborations, and demonstrate impact on closing the achievement gap for first-generation students. It is vital that the initiative nominated is related to the category and addresses a critical need.

The successful nomination will concisely explain the issue, how it relates to the institutional or Student Affairs’/Student Services mission, and population addressed. Documentation and results of assessments should include learning or success outcomes, how the program/service relates to a critical need, and its theoretical foundation. 

Submitting a Nomination

Refer to the rubric against which nominations will be evaluated and review the NASPA Excellence Awards Guidelines.

The 2027 NASPA Excellence Awards is accepting nominations from July 29, 2026 through October 1, 2026. Applicants will be notified of the award decision in January 2027.

NOMINATE

For questions about the Excellence Awards, please email [email protected]

Need help with your submission? View the video series below which explains each part of the rubric and application in greater detail!

Overview of Excellence Awards

NASPA recognizes the contributions of members who are transforming higher education through outstanding programs, innovative services, and effective administration. All NASPA members are encouraged to enter recently developed and/or longstanding programs and initiatives for consideration for the NASPA Excellence Awards.

Programs selected for recognition in each category will receive one of three designations: Gold, Silver, or Bronze. The gold recipients from each category will be further judged for the designations of Grand Gold, Grand Silver, and Grand Bronze.

The NASPA Excellence Awards will begin accepting applications on July 29, 2026 and nominations are due by October 1, 2026. Applicants will be notified of the award decision in January 2027. Award recipients will be recognized in various ways at the 2027 NASPA Annual Conference in National Harbor, MD. 

Excellence Awards Judging Criteria

Entries within each category will be reviewed by a cross-section of experienced NASPA members. Judges will independently review submissions using the following criteria:

  • Success in addressing student needs or responding to critical campus concerns and issues.
  • Relevance to institutional mission and/or applicability to student affairs profession institutionally, regionally, or nationally.
  • Impact on student learning and success demonstrated through transition, retention, or achievement outcomes.
  • Involvement, inclusion, and collaboration with academic affairs and other campus departments in planning and implementation.
  • Use of innovative and creative methods, practices, or activities including the use of social media and emerging learning technologies.
  • Application of available or emerging theoretical models, practical research, and program assessment.


In addition, submissions will also be assessed for the quality of the program description, explanation of concepts, clarity of writing, and connection to the category in which it applies. Please refer to the rubric which will be used for assessment.

If the submission relates to a program that relies on substantive use of multimedia technology, a link to those materials should be embedded in the award submission. The materials must be accessible to committee members without the need for user identification or password.

Excellence Awards Application Requirements

To be considered for a NASPA Excellence Award, nominations must include the following:

  • Correspond to one Excellence Award category
  • Program title
  • Executive summary (up to 500 words)
  • Abstract (summary of the program, up to 550 characters/approximately 75 words)
  • 6 essay responses addressing the following: Student Needs/Campus Issues; Student Learning and/or Success; Collaboration with Other Campus Units; Sustainability of Program; Best Practices and Connection to Category (up to 500 words per section)
  • One supporting documentation (e.g. data infographic, marketing flyer, letter of support, etc.). Option to include two more supporting documents.

 

An award-winning nomination should:

  • Contain adequate factual or descriptive material to enable the Selection Committee to evaluate the program
  • Provide a clear description of the program
  • Clearly state objectives and goals
  • Strongly correspond to the category in which it is applying
  • Show potential for adaptation by other institutions
  • Provide strong data and research to prove the program’s impact
  • Use the allotted space in the nomination form to address each question
  • Ensure the application is free of any typographical or grammatical errors
  • Avoid repetitive answers throughout the application
  • Receive a score of 4 (exemplary) in each section of the rubric

Excellence Awards Application Eligibility

  • Programs must have been in place for at least one year. Data to substantiate program effectiveness must be included with the submission. 

  • Past Category Gold winners are ineligible to apply again in that same category. If a program won a Category Gold award level in previous years in one category, the program must apply in a different category to be considered. The application must demonstrate that significant growth or development has occurred since last time.

  • Category Silver and Category Bronze winners are eligible to apply in the same category again, and must demonstrate that significant growth or development has occurred since last time.

  • Previous Grand winners are ineligible to win a Grand Award again. If a program that won a Grand Award in the past applies and wins in a new category than previous years, the program will not be considered for a Grand Award again. 

  • A NASPA membership is not required to apply. However, if the program wins and participates in a session at the NASPA Annual Conference, the primary representative for the program must have an active NASPA membership.

Excellence Awards Recognition